Side by Side Comparison of: Arnold vs MaxTrac

I had the original small metal skid shoes on my Craftsman snow thrower and switched to these. It is an excellent upgrade providing a much greater skid surface for the front shoot. Easy, 10 minute installation.

First and foremost is that these dont fit perfectly on all mtd throwers. I have a huskee from ts and after 10 plus years the steel slides are worn down to nubs and catch and tear up the ground. I got these as replacements and proceeded to put these on. No matter how i placed them only the 2 smaller bolts would line up. The larger bolt would not line up not would it fit thru the 3rd hole in my blower. Second is the use of carrage bolts on this kind of piece. I hate hate hate carrage bolts and this is no exception. Uggh. But unbelievable after much twisting and chiseling and hacksawing the old bolts were off and the new ones still fit and were able to grab what remained of the mangled square holes in the side of my blower. I tightened these down until they were starting to deflect ever so slightly. My doubts about there ability to stay in place and not slip have all been laid to rest. These things actually work! My first trial was dealimg with a foot of heavy wet lake effect snow with my muddy wet diveway. These glidded over the mud and thru the snow like a champ. Yea they held and didnt catch on anything except the tree roots in my one parking spot. I gotta say these impressed me. All in all installation is pretty easy if they line up with your existing holes. Dont panic if you cant get all three holes to line up. 2 will hold just fine. Also note there are 2 dufferent size bolts and nuts so pay attention to that. Cold doesnt seem to effect these as far as i can tell. Also make sure you install these with the flat flush area pressed against the thrower body as i dont think they will hold if reversed. I got 10 years on my steel set so im hoping to get 10 years on these. 5 years a side seems like a reasonable goal. By then i will probanly be ready for a new thrower anyway

I just replaced the skids on my Toro 521 snow blower with these. The installation was very simple. They give you all the hardware you need. The mounting holes on my blower were 2 inches apart, so I needed to use the extra large slot. The kit comes with a bushing/washer that allows you to use the extra large slot, but I was worried about the washer digging into the skid eventually as others have mentioned. So I took the old metal skids and chopped off the bottoms to make a plate that fits inside the new skids. (See attached photo.) There wasn't much left of the bottom of the skids, so this was pretty easy. These plates distribute the pressure from the mounting bolts over the most of the new skid, so hopefully should allow future adjustments.So far the skids seem to be performing well. I will add to my review after the season is over. We will see how durable they are. Boston is closing in on 100 inches of snow, so these are getting a good work out.

All Snow blowers should have these!!! even though I just bought a new craftsman's 24 inch snow thrower. The one thing I didn't like is the poly glides that came with it are way shorter than these. I rent a home that was built in 1957 and still has the original concrete driveway. Needless to say, the driveway has deep cracks and had loose broken concrete. I didn't want to have my new thrower to have any problems with this driveway. (only plan to stay a 1 or two the most) the last house I rented was only 5 years and had a great new driveway. I'm sure the shorter one would have work okay, but Were no longer there. These Poly Glides shipped quick(3 days) had all the hardware is a plastic bag(I didn't use, just reused the original hardware. the snow thrower is 3 weeks old and waiting for snow. these glides fit the front and back holes perfectly. It only took 5 minutes to install, and 2 large flat tip screwdrivers to prop up the ice scraper 1/4 high, and racket down the poly glides. Super Simple. I drove the Craftsman over the driveway to make sure I didn't have and issue, and it went flawlessly. I would definite recommend these to any one think of buying a snowblower, or and the very least, these glides are perfect.

Installed these on my BRAND NEW 28" Troy-bilt snow blower. I didn't even waste my time attempting to use the factory steel slide shoes. I have used these slides on the 26" Craftsman snow blower we have at work and all I can say is they "glide" over anything, never get hung up, and last much longer than I expected they would. The price is a little steep, however, they do work much better then the OEM junk. Would and will buy these again!

I recently purchased these snowblower skids for a 25+ year old Craftsman that was starting to show it's age. The original skids, when brand new, were nothing more than your typical bent chunk O metal about 3 inches long that rode along the ground getting caught on anything that wasn't completely smooth. In fact, they were getting so bad that they would catch and grab on even smooth blacktop. I had always wondered "why don't they make something better for these things?". In a nutshell, original snowblower skids kinda suck, right from the get-go.So I recently stumbled upon these universal replacement shoes and despite the frightening price of them, decided to take a chance.Wow.Let me go on record by saying that if I were to buy a brand new snowblower tomorrow, I would buy these shoes for it, and take the original ones and heave them somewhere into the dark, cobwebby recesses of my garage. Via con dios, poorly designed crap.These things are fantastic. For starters, they are LARGE and LONG, longer in fact than the entire bottom edge of my snowblower. Where the original hunks of bent metal (a marvel of engineering, indeed) were shorter than the bottom of the housing, which was starting to make the edges wear and bend, these cover the entire bottom and then some, making the sides much stronger, probably stronger than they were when the thing was brand new.They are a hard poly plastic, so they slide beautifully over ANY surface. Installation was a dream, with an offset cam for one of the bolts for precise adjustment for virtually any make or model. While the price is much higher than most replacement skids, keep in mind that they come 2 in a pack, where most replacement shoes are individual items to purchase. They are also reversible- when the bottom gets worn down, just flip them over and tighten the bolts, and you're good for another few seasons. So, for the "steep" price, you are essentially getting FOUR shoes, rather than one.If you are looking for something to make your snow removal easier (and who doesn't want that?), then get these replacement shoes, even if your snowblower doesn't need them yet. It's no hype and it's no joke, these things are awesome.Winter, do your worst. I'm so ready for you.

Fit perfectly. People who say they are loose are likely not installing them correctly.

chains were as described and seem pretty good, couldnt use them as not enough clearance on the blower i wanted them for. will try them on another blower

EXCELLENT FIT - GREAT VALUE - QUALITY COMPANY

These are great. Going on three seasons. Fit my Ariens snowblower, but was tight as other have said. I reduced air pressure in the tire and got them to work. The snowblower bites well now even in ice/wet snow. Wouldn't blow snow without them.

Good value and fits perfectly. I was struggling with my snow thrower in deep snow until I installed these. Worked great over this past Winter.

Chains are made of durable links and in such a way tangling after installed is impossible. A bit of a challenge to get on the tire perfectly,but once you do it is a major advantage to having traction in snow that is wet enough that it packs down as you drive over it and then you have no traction. So you wind up having to push your 8 HP 200 pound snow blower instead of the wheels driving it forward. The chains bite in and break up the packed snow drive forward on their own and it can be picked up easily with the augers.

Pretty good and they obviously prevent scratching. They didn't fit my ariens two-stage blower as I had expected but it worked. A bit disappointed to see the bottoms worn after only one use... kind of makes me think they need replacement every few years or at a minimum adjusting the wear. Nonetheless these are significantly better than the stock shoes and are worth the coin.

Just installed them on a 1992 Craftsman 5/22 two stage snowblower to replace the steel skids that had been replaced several times over the years.They new poly skids took literally 5 minutes to install. Just have a 1/2" socket and ratchet ready. Because they are plastic, they glide over surfaces very smoothly. However, because they are several inches longer than the original skids, they tend to float over snow rather than cut into the snow because of the increased surface area. I find myself lifting the handlebar on the snowblower so it clears closer to the pavement. A minor inconvenience for the ability to easily push the machine around like an upright vacuum cleaner rather than engage the self propulsion drive and creep along in light snow.

Because of the unusual amount of snowfall this winter the original metal shoes on the snow thrower purchased this year were completely worn out with at least a month left in the season. I have a very long concrete driveway that will put a lot of wear on the shoes. These were a little tricky to align because of being all poly. The bolts would be tightened to the point where I thought the plastic would crack and yet they could bump around and misalign when hitting the concrete seams. But for the most part they have done great. I would prefer a thick poly runner on a metal attachment plate. These shoes do make the snow thrower slide so much easier over the driveway .

These are like big snow shoes for your SB. There are enough holes that I cant imagine you coudlnt make it fit somehow. I needed a little elbow grease but got them to fit. They glide over pavement like a breeze.. The only complaint is because they are like big snow shoes they tend to get caught up when you hit hard snow from a previous storm or when you are trying to remove an existing snow pile... they just glide right up over and dont allow the snow blower to dig in. They stick out about 3/4 of inch on the sides so it catches a lot. I think next year I will adjust them back so they are not sticking out front and catching everything.

Since I don't see any reviews with hole spacing, here goes. From one end, the first hole is set back 2". The next hole is 1 1/4" on center from the first. The next hole is 1" on center from the second. The next (extra large) hole is 1 3/4" from the third hole. The last hole is also 1 3/4" from the extra large hole. All measurements are on center. Overall size roughly 3 1/4" by 10". Many reviewers have had problems installing these skids but I'm not sure this is the same product they reviewed. First of all, the large hole is for a slotted spacer which allows you to move the second bolt back and forth 1 inch. So you installed a bolt in one of the narrow holes(slots) and then install the second bolt through this cam/spacer and rotate the spacer until it's generally under the nut as best you can. Not complicated. On my Poulan PR624ES, also purchased from Amazon, I could get bolts through three holes if more bolts were provided. I can see instances where you may not be able to center the skids front to back, but that would not prevent them from working properly.

I was a little apprehensive to buy because there were others who found the holes didn't match up with their model snow blowers, but this worked out. That said, some of the slots on the shoes are wider than others, and to line up with my model, I had to use a set of very wide slots. This is fine I guess, as the vendor provides large washers to make up the space, but it does make for a slightly less secure installation than I'd like.We had an awful lack of snow this winter in Philadelphia, so I only was able to use these a couple times for some small 4" storms. However, I can definitely see a difference in that the stock shoes marred up my blacktop driveway no matter what. These make no marks on blacktop for me, and I even used them on my paver walkway without any marking at all.My one gripe is that I would like them to allow the blades on my blower to get as close as the stock skids, which go down to near zero clearance. These do not allow me to go closer than about 1/4-1/2 inch. But, since I have a steep slope, I scrape the drive off after using my blower anyway, and use lots of salt, so that's OK for me.I can't speak for length of life, but hope they last. Maybe the fast that they stick down more than I'd like will add to their life.

worked well

Chains were a little big but with some minor tweaking they are working just fine.

Great price and they fit my Ariens 24 inch snow blower like a glove. There's been no snow yet so I can't say how they work but I can't see why they wouldn't improve the traction. So far I am very happy with this purchase.

I like to think of myself as a handy, and as a teenager I had snow chains for my car. But I was a bit confused by two parts to this. First, I didn't understand the size of my snowblower tires, which say "4.10-6". After much searching, I concluded that these are the chains for that size tire. I put the chains on, and they look right.Second, I was a little lost on installation. This video told me the two things I needed to know: which side is up and which side is out.http://youtu.be/zxT6o_h-s0gWith all that covered, I'm ready for winter. Let it snow.

The chains came just in time for our last 10" snowfall. They were very good to have installed. My only regret was they were a tad short, and while they were rated to be the correct size for the tires on my machine I had to deflate the tires to soften/reduce tire size, struggle real hard with 2 vise grips to barely "make it happen", re-inflate the tires, and then when on--just barely--it appears like 1 cross strap is missing where the ends meet. If this were a road vehicle the ride would be quite lumpy with the missing cross strap. As things are they work very good in the snow but they could have been 2-3 inches longer with 1 more cross strap to be great.

Summary: The chains do what they're supposed to, but there were no installation instructions, and they don't perfectly fit the tire they're designed for.Detail: For someone who has put chains on tires before, I'm sure that's fine. But just a simple one-page instruction sheet surely isn't asking too much? -1 star for this.There is a bit of slop in the chain even after I installed it as tightly as I could, so obviously I didn't do it quite right. But hey, they stay on the tire and it adds a lot of traction to the snowblower, so I'm glad I got them.

I live in Iowa and do about 8 senior citizens drives every time it snows which is usually about 10 times each winter. Only use it when there is more than a couple of inches. Each side of the skid wears out in one winter's time. Thought they would be more durable.

Don't fit Husquavarna.

They only held up 2 storms

I returned them. They will not fit an Ariens 28" without a lot of spacers used as the mounting holes on the auger housing are recessed.They did appear to be well constructed with both 5/16 and 3/8" bolts and related washers supplied. If you need to space out the shoes more than 1/4" or so longer bolts will be needed.

smaller than I thought they would be. other reports are giving false dimensions. these are less that 3/4 of an inch wide and barley 10 inches long. I do like the material but I thought I was buying a bigger, heftier product.

Product is good for what it is intended. I am not able to use this because the entire width of my auger housing is not flat. Tightening this to the housing causes the shoe to bow inward and prevents proper adjustment. An additional spacer of some type would be required between the housing exterior and this shoe for a proper fit. (Sears 6.5HP 2 stage)

For the price, you get what you pay for. Work okay for snowblower tires but, arn't anything great.

Work fine. Can only go sixty mph on the interstate before they get noisy.

no directions

Will not be installed until the snow blower is put away for the season. Therefore will not know how well they work till after next winter.

Good idea, but after a winter of use, I'll go back to the OE steel shoes. Would probably be better if the were made for each model so that they fit better.

I bought these in 2012, and put them on. In the 4 years I used them, I noticed that the blower would have a tendency to lift up above the snow, especially if the snow was heavy and wet. After the last blizzard we had, snow was heavy and wet, the skids kept trying to climb the snow, and they were made too wide so it would pack in the snow by the skid and stop the blower dead in its tracks. I finally took them off and tossed them. Put the original skids back on and couldn't be happier.

The plastic sides were it meets the blower are smooth and not notched, so on a heavier blower it will slide down over time and start wearing the scraper blade. I tried too tighten the bolts, but it bit into the plastic leaving a permanent indentation so leveling the scraper blade were it needs to be can be difficult.

These have a lot of "flex". I thought they would be stiffer. They feel flimsy.

STAY WITH STEEL. AFTER ONE ONE SEASON RUNNERS HAVE 1" WORN AWAY. HAD TO FLIP FOR NEXT SEASON. ALSO THE RUNNERS ARE TO NARROW FOR GRAVEL. TOO BAD THEY DIDNT MAKE THIS OUT OF METAL WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT.

Out of the box they looked like the perfect match; however; only 2 of the 5 holes matched my Troybilt blower that has 3 original mounting locations. The concept of NO rusty marks on the garage floor is absolutely a plus factor, but after the first 2 hour use, the bucket edge was dragging the driveway indicating my set-up spacing of 3/32 had worn down after a short stretch of time. I'll have to set much higher than with conventional steel shoes to compensate for the QUICK wear factor . The claim of longer wear isn't as stated. Going back to " tried and true "steel shoes with hardface weld on the wear surface.

I just received the tire chains and they look fine. I have not installed them yet. One big reason I ordered them is one customer review said he thought they were made in America. But on the bag they come in states in big letters Made in China. As a Veteran I generally don't buy things that can be made in America but are made in China. But besides that, they seem fine.

Not impressed used them in one storm and one of the Universal washers fell off

I only gave this one star because the information on the product said "fits most 2 stage snowblowers". I did not fit my Briggs model 1696619 due to the bolt locations. Better information on the product (which models it will fit) would have prevented me from wasting $28. Be careful!

Don't waste your money. It is simple,these slide shoes slip. You tighten them, they slip and you tighten them and check the nonslip nuts, they slip, and so on.... If they don't fit exactly into the smaller slots and you have to use the large slot with the cam slide, it will slip.

Bought these for my Honda HS50 and found them impossible to install with the variety of holes/slots provided. None matched so I had to enlarge the slots make them fit. These came with a large bag of bolts, washers and nuts, but none were useable on my Honda.The shoes work somewhat, but the plastic is way too soft & slippery and won't hold in place. I bought additional large flat washers and star washers, but even then, the shoes still don't stay where I set them. You can't keep the bolts tight since the plastic 'relaxes' days after tightening.These were a waste of money .

It was a jury rig and difficult install for my Toro 724. There were so many ways that this could have been done easier if Arnold had provided some basic instructions when you have to "big hole" in shoe to get it installed on my Toro. Unless you are absolutely sure your snow blower can use the smaller holes, stay away from this product. Don't believe other reviews that say it works on Toro. After an hour I did finally get it installed, but have zero confidence the bolts will hold in the rigors of winter snow blasting.

These didn't work for me.The eccentric dowel was not very good.They moved and when really tightened, they bent.I ended up buying steel ones and they work well.

Bad design, chain doesn't stay on secure enough. While blowing snow one came off and became wrapped inside the auger!!!!! Took forever to get it out, took off other tire chain and threw both them in garbge. Don't waste your money.

Bought these for my Craftsman Snowblower with a 6" wheel as you can see by the enclosed pix.They were way too short and were designed for a 4" wheelTried to return them, but the seller was quite uncooperative and had to file a complaint with Amazon and got a full refund and I still want to return them as I have No Use for them

This package arrived intact, but with no instructions as to how to mount the chains, with their unusual fastener, onto my snowblower tires. I had been told I had ordered the correct size, but then ultimately had to remove several links in order for the chain to not fall off the tire. After spending over an hour trying to retrofit it, I realized that the chains' ladders fell in between the deep and highly spaced treads of my tires--and added absolutely NO additional traction. There weren't even any signs of the chains in the tire impressions in the snow, they were that recessed. This was not made clear in the description of the chains, nor was there anything in the bag with them to describe their application on various treads of tires. In the end, I spent $28 that I could not recoup, since I had "disfigured" the chains in order to get them on. The LaClede service rep was very kind and helpful, but nonetheless, the order was a washout for me. Beware to make sure you are getting exactly what your tire can accommodate before you order these!

did not fit

keeps falling off and getting tangled. Not well designed for the use on my snow blower.

Chains fit fine but snow blower would not move when drive was engaged. Other then that I'm sure they are a great product.